The days of a guild master getting fed up with his or her guild and skimming a few pieces of gold off the top before making a midnight server transfer shortly before raid are numbered. Soon enough, the proud owner of a maxed out raiding guild will be able to take the guild bank, guild name, and all the hard earned guild perks with them when they server transfer and/or faction change as part of a relocation service Blizzard plans to offer to their World of Warcraft player base.

The Blue Post below, issued by Blizzard Community Manager, Nethaera, on the World of Warcraft Forums, explains the feature.

We want to give everyone an early heads-up regarding our plan to implement a guild relocation service for World of Warcraft. The idea is for a guild leader to be able to transfer a guild to another realm. The guild structure remains intact, including the guild leader, guild bank, ranks, and guild name (depending on availability).

Guild members who decide to relocate with their guild may initiate their own paid character transfer. Upon a successful transfer they will automatically be part of the guild when they first log into the new realm. Their guild rank and guild reputation will be intact.

Guild leaders who do not want a change of scenery may also choose to pick a new guild name using another new service. These services are in development and we will be providing additional details at a future point in time.

As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the guild relocation service in a way that will not disrupt the game play experience. Please note that this feature will require extensive internal testing, so you may see bits and pieces of the service appear on the public test realms. We’ll announce further details at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com.

There is no information regarding the cost of this service. How much can a GM expect to pay for the ability to potentially transfer tons of gold, eight bank tabs full of materials, and current max of 25 guild levels – each granting a guild wide perk?

Blizzard takes their in-game economy very seriously, and goes to great lengths in order to protect it from gold farmers. And considering that one of their long standing preventive measures has been to limit the amount of gold that can be transferred by a single character, it’s probably safe to assume this service won’t come cheap, and won’t be allowed to take place on a very regular basis. I’d be very surprised to see this service offered on a three day cool down.

In addition to the associated cost and cool down aspect, this also potentially puts way too much power in the hands of one individual. Considering the fact that it takes many hard working members to level a guild, it poses the question as to whether or not Blizzard will give those members any say in the matter. Share your vote in our polls and sound off in the comments section below.